Ask the Recruiter

The interesting thing about this question is that recruiters come from a very wide range of backgrounds--and often did not originally plan to become recruiters. In many cases, they are people whose job responsibilities evolved to entail some degree of recruiting, and they found it suited them enough to specialize in it. In other words, there is no single standard of qualification or college degree to become a recruiter.

Even so, in anything that involves dealing with the business world to this extent, you would benefit from earning a bachelor's degree. If you plan to be an outside recruiter-- often known as a headhunter--I'd recommend a general business degree so you could be familiar with a broad range of occupations. One of the essential skills for an outside recruiter is to come up the learning curve quickly in understanding the nature of a client's business, and the characteristics that are considered important for a given job.

On the other hand, some recruiting jobs--typically those inside an organization--involve a certain amount of human resources responsibility. It would definitely be helpful for a recruiter to know something about employment law, and if you wanted to pursue human resources as your ultimate career path, a degree in human resources, and possibly even a master's, would make you more competitive in the job market.